PLANT: Perennials herbs, aromatic.

LEAVES: often sessile at plant apex.

INFLORESCENCE: verticillate bracteate cymes.

FLOWERS: calyx zygomorphic, tubular or rarely campanulate, 13 17 veined; corolla zygomorphic, 2 lipped, the upper lip 2 lobed, the lower lip 3 lobed, the tube exceeding calyx; stamens 4, the upper pair longer than lower, the anther cells ellipsoid, divergent; ovary 4 parted; stigma subequally 2 lobed.

NUTLETS: oblong, glabrous, smooth or tuberculate to rugose.

NOTES: Ca. 250 spp.; temperate Eurasia and Afr. (Latin: namesake for Etrurian city Nepete [present day Nepi, Italy]; Pliny's name for one of the Lamiaceae). Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum 570.

REFERENCES: Walters, Gretchen M. 2003. Lamiaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 35(2).

Cal 15-nerved, curved, oblique at the mouth, 5-toothed; cor bilabiate, the upper lip somewhat concave and often subgaleate, entire or bifid, the lower lip spreading, 3-lobed, the large central lobe sometimes notched; stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip and scarcely exserted, the upper pair slightly the longer; pollen-sacs widely divaricate, confluent in dehiscence; herbs, mostly erect, with toothed or cleft lvs and numerous small, white to blue fls in terminal, compound, often spike-like infls. 150, Eurasia.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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